Older cousin accused of suffocating sleeping 8-year-old cousin to death, DA says

HUMBOLDT, Tenn. (WMC/Gray News) - An 8-year-old girl was killed by her older cousin on Monday in Humboldt, Tennessee, according to Frederick Agee, District Attorney General for Tennessee Judicial District 28.

Home security video obtained by the Humboldt Police Department investigators reportedly shows a 12-year-old girl using bedding to suffocate her sleeping 8-year-old cousin on the top of the bunk bed they shared.

After the suffocation, the preteen allegedly “cleaned up” her cousin and repositioned her body.

“No words can describe it,” Agee said. “It’s unimaginable.”

He said the 8-year-old was found unresponsive in her bed at a house on East Mitchell Street. Two days later, a tipster came forward saying surveillance video from the bedroom showed what happened.

“The video shows the 12-year-old with her full body weight taking bedding, it appears the 8-year-old is asleep, and she takes the bedding and covers the 8-year-old’s face,” Agee said, adding that the video also shows the younger girl struggling to survive the attack.

The 8-year-old girl’s name is Demeria. She was visiting from Nashville. Her 12-year-old cousin was visiting from South Carolina. Their grandmother said the two were inseparable.

The evidence points to first-degree murder and tampering with evidence, Agee said.

“There is video where the 12-year-old goes and gets tissues and papers,” Agee said, “and tries to clean the 8-year-old’s body and face, and also moves the child, to make it appear that she was under the covers.”

The memorial for the girl in front of her grandmother’s home features balloons in Demeria’s favorite colors: pink, purple and pale blue. Her cherished stuffed animals are on display, and bottles of the nail polish she loved to wear sit next to notes written by loved ones.

Her family and the police said they are struggling to figure out the motive.

“We’d ask your viewers to pray for the family and pray for our officers,” Agee said. “This is intense. It’s just not something that happens here.”

The young suspect is being held three hours away in Rutherford County, the closest juvenile detention facility to Humboldt.

Agee said the 12-year-old, who turns 13 soon, will appear in court in Trenton on Friday afternoon. He said he intends to ask the Juvenile Judge Mark Johnson to transfer her to adult court.

“I consider this to be one of the most disturbing violent acts committed by either an adult or juvenile that my office has prosecuted,” Agee wrote in a release. “Due to the horrendous nature of this crime and under Tennessee law, the Juvenile Court loses jurisdiction after a juvenile turns 19, and therefore, the juvenile would be free from any further detention, supervision, or court-ordered mental health treatment.”

Agee said he wants her to be tried as an adult because it “allows for a lengthier sentence, whether that will be through incarceration or supervision with court-ordered conditions.”

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